Eyes Don't Lie: Too Late Anyhow
by NeoMiniTails
Summary: There were rumors flying around, but he didn't believe it until it was too late.


**Author's Note:** _Thanks for reading. I don't own the characters involved in this story. This is connected to a larger story in the "Everyone Wears A Mask/ Eyes Don't Lie" universe... It's my first time writing for it in awhile so hopefully, you enjoy it._

 _Please read and review!_

He'd heard many rumors, but nothing seemed official until now.

She smiled at him with a sad look in her eyes, a wistful expression that seemed to beg for him to speak, then she turned away. Handing over a card to both Bruce and himself, she kept standing, waiting for approval from her godfather.

Bruce's lips were tight, almost looked like Alfred, and his eyes narrowed. For a moment, Dick was hoping he'd give her a list of all the reasons why she shouldn't do it. Dick could hand her a book.

Before Bruce could break the silence, Dick stepped in and walked in front of Rei, standing dramatically in the light. They were close, too close, almost inappropriately put into the same proximity of one another. He could feel her breathing hasten, her chest moving up and down, just as he was sure that she could feel his body close to her. "What the hell is this?"

Rei moved away from him and stood to the right of Bruce, completely ignoring the younger man in the room. "My wedding will be in a few weeks, and this isn't me asking for permission to wed, but if you could... please... walk me down the aisle." Her words were soft and passionate, as she'd always been growing up. Dick didn't turn around to look at her, he'd prefer not to, but rather looked out the window as Bruce said something about how he could always rearrange his schedule for her.

"Grayson, please come also." She didn't look at him either.

It was the first thing she said to him in months; the two of them only spoke when necessary lately. Rei told him that she couldn't bear fostering a friendship with him any longer. It was hurting her, and she didn't want to hate him.

Dick could see she was waiting for him to respond, to say that he was coming, and he was proud of her for finding the love of her life. Rei obviously wanted him to be fine with him being replaced.

Now, of all times, he finally started to think about it. The young acrobat thought about something that he put away a long time ago, and he hated himself for realizing it only now. His mind went back to the first time she smiled at him. The two of them were so young, not even teenagers, and the sunset and her expression were tattooed in his mind.

He remembered thinking to himself that he would always be the only one to make her smile, the boy that she would lean on and know how much he cared. He remembered coming to visit her when she was sixteen and was oddly jealous of her new friends for being able to meet this happier Rei before he could, being the reason that she changed.

"Conner wants you to be his best man." _Of course he does._

He wanted to be angry, to be able to tell her off for falling for his best friend, to tell them both that it was wrong, but for all the venom in his thoughts, they wouldn't come out.

He looked down at his ring finger and saw a promise to another woman, the one he asked to marry and was rejected twice. It was the reminder of his last argument with Rei when he asked Barbara Gordon to marry him the third time.

' _You and I can't keep on doing this to each other. I can't keep on doing this! I can't... keep being your shoulder to cry on when she hurts you.'_

He turned his eyes to Rei, remembering her slender shoulders shaking in the rain. This wasn't the first time that she'd gotten upset over Barbara Gordon, but it was the last time that she allowed herself vulnerable in front of him. Her eyes were red in the streetlights and her dress clung to her shape, her lips were soft and seemed so far away.

Even back then, he wanted to tell her to not leave him, never walk away, because he couldn't imagine life without her. Somehow, he convinced himself that if he saw her at work that would be fine, and they rekindle over some tea at her place. They'd probably make a joke at Bruce's expense and laugh all night about the little things that only they knew about him.

Like a fool, he could remember responding in the coldest voice he could muster: _'Do whatever you want. If you can't be happy for me then whatever...'_

The ring said nothing of the memories of that day. It shined so brightly with the fireplace's fiery light glowing against the white gold ring. It seemed to laugh at him for keeping the object on him because it wasn't even three weeks after the engagement party when Barbara decided to break it off again.

Why now would he start to think about this of all times?

He thought about her smile all those years ago and how often it made him joyful, gave him hope, and those times that he spoke to Bruce and Alfred alone about the Japanese girl who wouldn't stop making his heart thump in his chest.

" _You should move to Tokyo. You and Bruce." Sixteen year Rei said with a smile, looking out at the cherry blossoms falling to the Earth. It was the same smile that made his heart beat like crazy years ago, but now, her eyes had this peace about them._

" _Why would we do that?"_

 _She tilted her head towards him but didn't say a word. Her eyes said everything, spoke in a language that only his heart knew. All those years of handwriting letters to each other, emailing one another about small events in their life, coming to see the other whenever they got a chance._

 _His heart raced. Badum, BaDum, his hands clammy, he thought about Batman needing him and the Teen Titans. They were only in their third year of being official according to the Justice League... And what would Barbara think?_

 _Rei's smile faded as quickly as it came. "Maybe... I'll move to Gotham when I'm eighteen." There was this hope in her eyes and love... for him. It was a look that he'd seen Bruce have for Selina, and the expression that Alfred said never met the latter's._

 _He wondered what his face looked to her. Despite the chilly wind, his face and fingers felt warm, and his heart was fluttering._

Dick turned to her with a smile plastered on his face, one that didn't meet his eyes. Even after all this time, the one thing he never admitted to himself about how he felt about her plagued him.

He would never say those three words about her in his mind or aloud. It was too late anyhow.

"I'll be there."


End file.
